CONCERNING THE NATIVE DEPARTMENT.
OF all the mysterious institutions which the world has
seen, none can bear comparison with the Native de-
partment of New Zealand. Although it is a public
office, supposed to be under the scrutiny of public
opinion and the surveillance of Parliament, the
public, and the representatives of the public, know as
much, about its internal organisation as they do about
the social economy of the inhabitants of the moon.
Efforts without number have been made for many years
by some of the leading public men of the Colony to
unveil the mazes of the Native office, to lift the veil
which obscures the movements and functions of so many
well paid and easy going public servants from the light
of day, but the task has always been beyond the
strength of those who have undertaken it, to perform.
Attempt after attempt has failed signally, and each
failure has left the venerable institution a greater mys-
tery than before. Bat while the public are completely
in the dark as to the internal constitution and organisa-
tion, of the Native Department, they have a knowledge
only too full and painful of its corrupting influences
and its bungling work, and of the enormous cost at
which it is perpetuated at the expense of the country.
It is not necessary to quote authorities as to the cor-
ruption and bungling which pumeate the whole de-
partment. Such things are matters of contemporary
history, verified by the unanimous verdict of the
country from the North Cape to the Southern boundary
of the "Colony. There may be differences of opinion
about the wisdom of sinking the Colony into debt, or
about the necessity for abolishing the Provinces, but
there baa been for years but one opinion as to the
honesty or usefulness of the Native office. Now, at to
the question of cost, when we said that the question
of cost was one upon which the people of the Colony
«rere well informed, we do not mean to imply anything
more than that they know to their sorrow the lump
tam which they have to pay for the maintenance of an
institution which they distrust and defeat. Although
for years past the Colony has been called upon to find
money by hundreds of thousands of pounds for
Native purposes, the people have never had the
slightest information or detail of the expenditure and
distribution of the amounts banded to the Native office.
Of course any one with his eyes open can form some
idea of bow the money goes. It is only necessary to
glance at the vast array of over paid and incompetent
mischievous officials who hold the North Island like an
army of occupation, to be satisfied that an enormous
burden is entailed thereby on the tax-payers of the
Colony. It is not only that situations are given to
European friends of the powers that be, but there is
besides in existence a system of paying salaries to
Natives for no earthly object that we can discern, except
to stop their months. In come districts of the North
Island a short time since, nearly every adult member
of a tribe held a paid appointment under the Govern-
ment. Then were Magistrates, Magistrates clerks and
policemen, and then to make sufficient vacancies, there
were policemen's clerks also. Through, a channel so
capacious, and so absorbing any amount of money would
disappear rapidly, and it would require the financial
genius of a dozen Vogels to keep ihe supply equal to
the demand. Then again look at the large amount of
money doled oat to the Natives in supplies of food and
clothing. We only can say one thing with, certainty
of this, namely, that these favors are generally con-
ferred upon the least deserving of the many applicants
to the Native Minister. A case now happening under
our very eyes will also throw some light upon the
comparatively unknown favoring of the Native De-
partment. We refer to the visit of the Native Minister
to this place. For a period of nearly four months the
Province of Hawke's Bay has rejoiced in the personal
presence of the Native Minister. With the Native
Minister has been an under-secretary, a private secre-
tary, an accountant, and a couple of orderlies. To see
the Native Minister, a large number of functionaries
of the department, have come from all parts of the
North Island. All this is done at the expense of the
public. The travelling allowance of a Minister is three
guineas per day, and the other officers will have
been performing the koutou in the august presence at
rates varying according to rank from two guineas a
day to ten shillings. Then there is the cost of passages
and a heap of miscellaneous expenses, in the contract-
ing or constructing of which the officers are faciles
principes. We leave the reckoning of the cost of this
single visit to those who are fond of figures, but we
will hazard the assertion that an amount has been thus
expended which, would go a long way towards paying
the cost of the " Bridge " so long talked of, and so
frequently promised to connect Port Ahuriri with, the
Taupo road at the Spit. Another question, viz., how